Are you serious? Also do you have children or have you ever looked after children? I'd question your ability to if you seriously hold this view.

I used to be sensitive to the weepy "protect the children" argument for censorship as well as a plethora of other lost civil liberties (I also noticed many of those who used that rational basis didn't give a fig about the kids or world they would ultimately inherit).

Now I simply say, "fuck the kids, I was here first" :-)

I redact everything I have written or will write on this forum prior to, subsequent with and or after the fact of its writing. For entertainment purposes only and not to be taken seriously nor literally.

Originally Posted by Edgar

Spamtar - a strange combination of boorish drunkeness and erudite discussions, or what I call "an Irish academic"

I had read from that same journalist, that although Facebook has added additional reporting categories for "threats against a <group or individual>" and "hate speech" that they don't actually do anything. (Play around with the dropdowns that appear post-selection and you'll see them.) So I decided to report a page (that has several variations that involve activities such as smoking or going to bars at night) called "When I see a pregnant woman, I want to punch her in the face." I got a polite prefab response 12 hours later from an employee named Vicki explaining that the group didn't qualify under their "hate speech" or "threats against a group of people" categories. Oh really Vicki? Then what does?

I wonder why it is that they will not tolerate racists, anti-semites, Islamophobes and homophobes, but welcome misogynists with open arms? I wonder if it's because all of those groups have members who could potentially do serious damage to Facebook/it's owners and employees, whereas women, what are women going to do? Laugh along, more than likely.

I think a lot of the rapey, misogynistic Internet culture derives from the hardcore pornography that has historically been its lifeblood and that, increasingly, is bleeding out into the mainstream.

Originally Posted by Ivy

Gosh, the world looks so small from up here on my high horse of menstruation.

I think I may be in the minority in this thread. None of the mentioned problems are caused by the internet, and censoring the internet won't make nasty things go away. However, censoring would have a chilling effect, driving people in minority groups underground. It would also drive various abuses out of the public eye, resulting in them being happily ignored by the general public as they have been for thousands of years. Or do people think bullying, sexual abuse, and police brutality mysteriously popped up due the the advent of the internet?

None of the mentioned problems are caused by the internet, and censoring the internet won't make nasty things go away. However, censoring would have a chilling effect, driving people in minority groups underground. It would also drive various abuses out of the public eye, resulting in them being happily ignored by the general public as they have been for thousands of years. Or do people think bullying, sexual abuse, and police brutality mysteriously popped up due the the advent of the internet?

That's not the point. People killed each other before they had guns... or planes to fly into buildings, so what do you do? Arm your enemy? Only if you're an idiot.
What strange logic, anyway. Hate speech is only chilling when it's driven underground? When it's the norm and done with an "ironic" wink, it's just fine and dandy? And you're calling hate perps a "minority group" now are you? Just....bizarre.

Originally Posted by Ivy

Gosh, the world looks so small from up here on my high horse of menstruation.

Well, ever heard of the saying that once something goes on the web, it stays in the web? I don't think people have the intention of posting embarrassing information about themselves on the web. And most of the time, those information that do get posted aren't done by the person who wanted it on there in the first place.

If you mean something the person has told to someone else, it's still his fault. Or if the person let someone to take a picture of him say nude or in some odd pose, etc. voluntarily, it's still his fault.

However, if the information posted on a site is done by the person who is embarrassed, than that is a different story.

Yes it is.

Other reasons that aren't just the government, there are a butt-load of advertising companies that collect butt-loads of information about you. Your individual information is worth pennies to them, but it adds up to a goldmine with the amount of information received. It is why they are having a fuss about Microsoft having "Do-Not-Track" as a default (although generally speaking, it does nothing because advertisers aren't forced to not track you.) Typically speaking, they can collect information about you and sell it to other companies that know nothing about you because information about you is good to them. They wouldn't need to tell you that they are selling information about you because, lawfully speaking, the information they collected about you is theirs to keep. Many sites work like this, all/most information you put on the site is theirs to keep. Which isn't really paranoid speaking because it is fact. Just look at Facebook and even Google (although I don't have too much of a problem with Google.)

It is also the reason why I ad-block most sites (there is a few I am willing to unblock the ads because they generate revenue for the site.)

Anonymity and privacy, like a journalist, helps when you don't want to single out anybody or single out yourself. The fact that people can go online without being scrutinized, per se, is already a lot. But it is really a double-edged sword and applies to every thing.

If you're worried about advertising companies (Google, Facebook included), just use an adblocker. I don't see the slightest problem here, unless you like ads... But if you like ads, ads tailored to your needs should be appealing to you. Personally, I've blocked any ads, popups, stats gathering systems, etc. everywhere without an exception. Main reasons - they are annoying and useless to me.

Originally Posted by Lark

Your post just convinced me that on balance the internet is a bad thing.

Depends who's the user... And essentially - how stupid the user is prior to using the internet.

Originally Posted by Lark

Not just governments and corporations.

In the UK I read about a guy who was eventually caught after burglarising a lot of very wealthy homes, he told the court he'd posed on social media and asked a lot of people if they were going on holidays soon and when they told him they had also really broadcast when their homes would be empty and unprotected.

Easier than the old-school way - meeting people and getting the same info. Also faster.

But nowadays, I don't think that there's many burglaries, most rich homes are protected by security systems, including video cameras. It's not the 80s anymore.

Originally Posted by iwakar

I had read from that same journalist, that although Facebook has added additional reporting categories for "threats against a <group or individual>" and "hate speech" that they don't actually do anything. (Play around with the dropdowns that appear post-selection and you'll see them.) So I decided to report a page (that has several variations that involve activities such as smoking or going to bars at night) called "When I see a pregnant woman, I want to punch her in the face." I got a polite prefab response 12 hours later from an employee named Vicki explaining that the group didn't qualify under their "hate speech" or "threats against a group of people" categories. Oh really Vicki? Then what does?

From this post, I see that the people meant it as a joke, therefore it isn't hate-speech nor threats. However, this does show the party spirit that is growing bigger as of late. Hm, all this talk reminded of Al Bundy.

Originally Posted by Salomé

^Genuinely disturbing.
I desperately want to understand where this hatred comes from, because it just makes no f@&£)ing sense to me...

As I see it, they are saying that pregnant women aren't good for one-night stands, therefore, they don't want to have anything to do with them. It also may be related to the fact that most males wouldn't want a girlfriend who already has kids or is about to have kids.

You are being rather naive. For one thing, your IP (and derived location) is available to every website you visit (unless you use a proxy). For another, corporations like Google and Facebook track everything you do to develop a profile of exactly who you are so that they can better sell you to advertisers. They probably know more about you than your friends do.
For another, it's not only hackers who are out to get you, it's stalkers and criminals too.
And if you think cyberstalking is just about calling people names, think again. It can lead to murder.
You need to take this stuff more seriously.

IP's available privately, to the admins. And what are they gonna do with it, hack my PC for a rude comment?

They don't know my name and address (no real identity), therefore I don't care. Nonetheless, you can opt-out of their tracking programs and block all the statistic sites with browser addons or the hosts file.

That's under your control - think before posting. As for hackers, think before visiting a site.

It's even mentioned at the end, that the information was voluntarily shared through Facebook - which means poor decision on the victim's side.

It's entirely benign, however, on balance, the people who use it suck.

Either you didn't get how I take it or you should take it less seriously.

As I see it, they are saying that pregnant women aren't good for one-night stands, therefore, they don't want to have anything to do with them. It also may be related to the fact that most males wouldn't want a girlfriend who already has kids or is about to have kids.

And that makes you want to punch her in the face....why?

Either you didn't get how I take it or you should take it less seriously.

No.

Originally Posted by Ivy

Gosh, the world looks so small from up here on my high horse of menstruation.